A trip to Transfăgărășan - a C13 Refresh project

I've been mesmerized by Transfăgărășan for what feels like forever. I still remember finding the track as a rFactor 1 mod, and struggling to get to the top, my difficulties due in no small part to opting for a Ford RS200 as the car to learn the layout in. I've since learned how to safely navigate the twists and turns of the legendary mountain road, and I enjoy my stay there every time. It is perhaps a wonderful throwback that (as far as I know) the Simtraxx DNC7 is indeed based on the same rFactor 1 mod that piqued my interest so many years ago. The unfortunate thing is that the visual impact of the track isn't much better. Well, I think it's time to change that.

I've been working on this for a minute, though it's not nearly the total overhaul that my AEGIS MODERN SRP skin is. But through careful texture picks, and balanced shader reconfiguration, i've come up with a baseline that looks much more natural than the vanilla map. Coupled with a custom ai spline for online, the Transfăgărășan is now a prime candidate for a C13 Server. That is if enough people own/are willing to buy the track, which yes is a paymod. But perhaps the server is a story for another day.

The C13 Refresh for Transfăgărășan has so far focused on 3 main areas:

• Trees

• Main terrain

• Misc textures

The tree walls surrounding the road have been removed, opening up the view and letting tree shadows play on the road surface. Three shaders have been reworked for a less jarring and more natural look of the surrounding landscape.

The main terrain has seen a recoloring and new normal and detail maps, adding depth to the terrain, and bringing that early summer color palette to the track

Textures on stones, walls, and logs have been replaced, particularly where vanilla assets are decidedly low-res.

If you're a T2 Patron or higher, you can find an early test version in the Discord. Make sure your Patreon and Discord accounts are connected to be able to access the channel.

Here are some previews of the changes:
Before #1After #1 
Before #2After #2

Before #3
After #3

Before #4
 After #4

I hope to be finished with this by the time i'm ready to launch the server, but currently my time is at an extreme premium, so we'll see. If you end up giving this a shot, do lmk what you think, and if you find any issues that can be fixed not at 3d level.

As always thank you for the support!